A group of French and English Officers in earnest conversation, several led horses in different parts of the court-yard, and mounted orderlies arriving and departing, give an air of business to the foreground inseparable from the centre of the vast and complicated machinery of a large army in an enemy's country. It was here that Lord Eaglan lived through the long and dreary winter, and amidst circumstances the most trying, with prospects which seemed
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DISTANT VIEW OF LOED RAGLAn's HEAD-QUAETERS. 133
each day to grow darker, with the army which he loved perishing before his eyes, assailed by the most senseless calumny and the most galling detraction, his heroic courage, his unshaken confidence in the fortunes of his country, never for a moment quailed. The weight of an enormous responsibility, the failure of an enterprise in which he had engaged from a sentiment of the most exalted chivalry rather than with any expectation of success, grief for the repeated loss of near and valued friends, and the assaults of a disease which selects as its peculiar victims those who are exposed to severe mental anxiety, at length combined to break the noble spirit which they could not bend. He died as he had lived, calmly and grandly, surrounded by the affectionate veneration of all who had the privilege of his intimacy, and bewailed with the sincerest sorrow by the men whom he had commanded, by the Allies, and by his country.
Justice has long since been rendered to the eminent qualities which distinguished him as a man, a citizen, and a soldier: his gentle and conciliating manners, so i^eculiarly fitting him for the delicate and difficult duties of a divided command, — his unvarying affability, his kindness of heart, his courage, "which rivalled that of antiquity," — his unswerving devotion in the path of duty, — all these were known and admitted, even by those who affected to deny to him the more brilliant characteristics of a great general. But time, which has silenced his calumniators, and transferred the blame once so lavishly and so unjustly bestowed upon him to the really guilty, has also matured the results which he had so ably prepared, though he was not permitted to behold them. The fall of Sebastopol, and the circumstances which attended it, have amply vindicated the wisdom and the policy of many of his actions which were once the most freely censured; and every day adds another distinguished name to the cloud of witnesses whose position enables, as their convictions command them, to enhance the lustre of a name which England will ever count amongst those of the bravest, the wisest, and the best of her sons.
PLATE IX.
DISTANT VIEW OF LORD EAGLAN'S HEAD-QUARTERS BEFORE
SEBASTOPOL.
We have here the subject of the preceding sketch viewed from a distance, and connected with the surrounding camps, and the offensive and defensive works of the contending armies. The position of the English and French batteries is again clearly indicated, and beyond them are seen the Russian defences and the town, with the English fleet in the far distance. The several camps are those of the 3rd and 4th Divisions, of the Heavy Cavalry, and of Captain Brandling's troop of Horse Artillery. On the extreme right is a small farmhouse, surrounded with tents, below which are those of General Scarlett. The emaciated body of a dead horse in the foreground tells its own tale, and l informs us that the difficulties and disasters of winter have ah-eady commenced, — disasters typed at once and augmented by the fate of the wretched animals who perished by thousands on the road to the camp, the worn-out victims of fatigue and starvation.
PLATE X.
A QUIET DAY IN THE DIAMOND BATTERY. Portrait of a Lancaster 68-Pounder, 15th December, 1854.